You have effected a masterful disturbance upon the landscape of my face. It’s your m.o., it keeps you dealer, driver, maestro, Holder of the stick at the end of the carrot, the one and only well of maternal approval.Dry, dry–I drop my divining rod in favor of an oil drill. But in the dust bowl […]
Category: Poetry
Vacant Underground – Allison Grayhurst
No sales clerk or hand to count coins. A wish is like a wave that breathes, hunting with the tide. The sand is grasped but never held – its form lost again in the unforgiving sea. I had a wish, jealous and absolute. It took my days like a nunnery and discarded all urban vice. […]
A Not So Fullness of Being – Randall Rogers
HumansWill neverStop makingUpFalse Gods.God made itThis way.And if the currentGod everWere proven toNot existHumans wouldCreateAnother one,And if thisNew GodEver tried to Show HerselfAnd walk the earthLike JesusDidWell, we’d killThis new GodToo.It’s like they saidIn theBar down theHill fromGolgothaThe day afterJesusWasExecuted: “God sentJesusDown toSee whatEarth wasLike;And we gave him a taste of what It’s like to be human.” […]
Tolerance – Malkeet Kaur
Freedom- the vagabond is here emancipated.Free finally to loiter naked behind iron curtains;safe from the unmitigated unknown,and flanked by familiarity.She dances, abandoned to the frenetic cadence;instinctive is the passionate, clandestine rendezvouswithin virgin sheets of the diary vampiric,afraid of daylight and the contractions of procreation.She flirts with tolerance there in the dark:Her world the only […]
Exsufflicate – Gary Glauber
The bully deflectsslings & arrowsof a nation torn asunder,downplays hatredrisen from its hiding place,and plays loose & fastwith laws that governa once proud democracy.Hello blusterous bloviate,farewell peace of mind.Complacency has no placein this land of new normal,where political favors underminepracticality of experience& thin skin incites threats to first amendment rights.It’s not right, & even […]
Once Lost – Kristina Pervanas
Wandering down the dirt path towards the old iron gates.Broken, they creak openrust crumblingpaint chippingfalling onto the unfurled sleeping flowersthat are as cold as the stone which reads,‘Once Lost, Always Loved’I amble down the pathfollowing the finger like tree branchesbroken down, pointing in the right direction.I know I’m entering anonymous territory,although it’s not clear […]
Destroy this Temple – Alan Britt
Destroy this temple & I’ll ice-skate three days across your godforsaken forehead. Keep your mantis mitts, your freshly laundered, beet-stained fingertips off my block of ice. Keep your bloody collar to yourself. Keep your Antiques Roadshow jade symbol of ultimate creator/intellectual swinging from your nakedness & mine researching the gunmetal crevices of midday breasts […]
When The City Speaks – Allison Grayhurst
It is no small place this devil’s field where leopard’s blood runs through the streets like a constellation cut from the sky. Drunkards, drug pushers, the cold amoebas that die without seeing a dawn. In Chinatown, the spell is set loose, splitting sidewalks with fury. Waxen murderers, a barnyard of devourers. Inside, lovers tremble, clutched […]
Telehaptic Love – Paul Brookes
Thousands of miles apartwhen I touch my lipsyour lips feel my fingerswhen I massage my legsyour leg muscles move.At times I worryas the edges of my mouthdon’t turn up unexpectedly as often,perhaps you are sadder these days.I put it down to the bargain devicewe bought, as I do not feelyour heartbeat or pulse as […]
Bomber – Wayne F. Burke
the big backyard treehard as ironhad soft smooth bark of shallow ridgesI ran my hand overand pressed my cheek againstwithout fear of splinters…It grew string bean-like pods a foot long with leathery skinand stuff like feathers insidemy Uncle said they were watermelon seedsand I wondered if it was a lie,like everything else he said.Dinner […]